Rivers of the Night - Chapter 96

Chapter 96: Brash Young Man [Golden Ticket Bonus]
Theron had expected Dean Thistle to give him something after he brought up Burne’s snub. But this wasn’t what he expected, and he also knew he would be a fool to think that there was nothing wrong with the technique at all.

What the Thistle Patriarch didn’t realize, though, was that Theron would figure it out instantaneously.

For a long while now, Theron had been building up a solid foundation of Water Mancy comprehension. It wasn’t just that his cultivation technique was the simplest, but even his chosen Mana skills were slowly built on top of one another.

In fact, while others were chasing after power Echoes, Theron had actually planned to get one of the easiest Echoes to claim, coming from an Imbued Beast that was known for being difficult to catch and yet having no combat power.

If not for the twist of fate that was the Verdant Bloomstone, he would have easily continued down that route.

Since he was a youth, Theron had come to understand that his cultivation would never be predicated on raw power. Water Mancers didn’t have enough of it.

He would never be able to draw a [Water Scythe] as sharp as a good blade in a Flex Mancer’s hand, nor would he be able to form a shield of water as solid as an Earth Mancer’s, and certainly not a Metal Mancer, nor would he be able to cast illusions as well as Spirit Mancers, nor heal himself as well as a pill or a Light Mancer could.

What he would be the best at was control. He needed to lean into it, and he needed to ensure that it was his greatest strength… and Mana Control was downstream from Mana comprehension.

The better he understood his Element, the better he would be able to control it.

Wood Mancy might have been born for Water Mancy in part, but no matter how powerful Dean Thistle was, he couldn’t fathom just how strong Theron’s understanding of Water Mana was.

Ironically enough, if this was before he took the Fourth Year Botany Class, Theron would have known there was an issue, but wouldn’t be able to comprehend what it was.

Now, however…

‘This is a Domain skill. It can increase the Water Mana concentration in the region by a lot and lower the cost to myself. But if it’s activated in this way, it would be very susceptible to absorption by a strong Wood Mana user…’

Theron had experienced having his Water Mana sapped away before in his battle with the Thornhulks. But this would be like that times ten or a hundred.

The secret was something Theron had only learned of recently.

Polarity.

‘The support aspects to this aren’t hidden, which is part of what makes it so clever. The technique clearly outlines here that this would help Wood Mancers and other Variants downstream from Water Mana such as Ice Mancers, while also suppressing Fire Mancers…

‘If I’m correct, Dean Thistle probably thinks that I’d stop there, assuming that to be the “flaw”, or maybe get me to think that he was only giving me this technique so that I could better support his family’s geniuses in the future…

‘When in reality if I practice it like this I’m one thought from a Wood Mancer away from having my body sucked dry of all its Water Mana…

‘This technique… It’s quite good… But…’

[Tidal Convergence].

This was the sort of technique Theron couldn’t trade for even if he wanted to. It was most definitely a High-Tier Bronze Resonance technique, but it would certainly be classified as a Clan Secret by a powerful Water Mancy Clan—though Theron could think of none in the Nightingale Empire.

‘… It just does what the rain does for me.’

This technique would be useless to Theron in the rain. But outside of the rain, it might be able to give him about 20% of his usual strength in rain.

All things considered… that wasn’t too bad.

And if Dean Thistle dared to send one of his geniuses to try to take advantage of the weakness of this method, well… there’d be quite some price to pay for that.

‘This gives me an idea, though. If polarity can be used to attract Water Mana to me… there’s no reason I can’t make myself even stronger in the rain with these concepts…’

Theron’s mind churned. He would have to finish raising [Water Wrap] and [Water Scythe] to Consummate quickly. He had a feeling he would need more experience to figure out a method to do this.

As for this technique, he guessed he could give it a go.

It only took a night for Theron to reach Adept in this new High-Tier Bronze Resonance technique.

**

The days passed and shifts and changes began to occur in Thistle Brook City. The weight of Malaya’s wedding was already quite heavy to begin with, but it only became more so with the implications.

Theron and the Thistle counterattack had caused the crown prince to move back his public appearance with Thessa, while Theron’s image as a brash and arrogant man was only growing.

As for the man himself, Theron acted as though there was nothing coming over the horizon at all.

In fact, in these last two weeks, he cleared another four academic stream class exams with a perfect S Grade. His credit total for the academy stream increased to 24, a perfect mirror to his 24 military stream credits.

A First Year with 48 credits. A shocking achievement to be sure.

But there was no doubt skepticism. While it was impressive to be a genius of two streams, there was no doubt that every subsequent credit was more difficult to get. Gathering 24 credits twice wasn’t nearly as difficult as gathering 33 credits to graduate just once.

The jury was still out on if Theron could continue this sort of momentum and match up against the best of the best.

But he would certainly act as though he could nonetheless.

Theron’s brashness only grew as the wedding day approached. But while everyone was raising their eyebrows, wondering what a man marrying into his woman’s Clan could possibly have to be so arrogant about, Theron himself sat in a luxurious waiting room, dressed in his groom’s robes.

His expression was peaceful, his eyes were closed.

Soon… he would retrieve his father’s sword.

‘Two more months at most… just two…’